Hoda Kotb & Brian Lamb

My wake up call this morning was later than yesterday. We were off to GMU’s Arlington, VA location to listen to Brian Lamb speak about his company, C-SPAN. Instead of taking a speech approach, he, instead, decided to engage with the audience. It was very interesting to hear my peers’ responses to his hard questions.I was even more pleased when Mr. Lamb was lost for words after he

heard my question to him, “In your biography, it is said that you have “small town” qualities and encourage a family atmosphere at C-SPAN. Have you ever had a time when those values have been a disadvantage at C-SPAN or in the work force?” I’ll be completely honest with you. That was the first question that popped up in my head as soon as I heard about the available spot to question him. His response was gold. Before, he had spoken about how a journalist should know about a person that they’re interviewing by, for instance, reading their biography (check). Adjacent to that statement is the obvious reasoning that, with the extra knowledge, a journalist’s questions for the interviewee will be more in-depth and unique. What was the first thing Brian Lamb said to me after I asked my question? “Well, I’ll tell you something…I’ve never had someone ask me that before.” (Check.) And not only did he have to ponder for a while before answering, I also received multiple compliments from my Red group (#REDisRAD), peers, and interns. What was his answer? Since my head was spinning and I was hearing multiple “that was a great question” from people immediately after I asked the question, I didn’t actually catch his initial answer. However, he did state that he never really liked business where one person had to climb over the other to reach the top and he felt that a company with less competition would keep a better ego. I really enjoyed his presentation and was more than honored to have surprised Brian Lamb with my knowledge (flips hair).

Hoda Kotb.

Hoda flipping Kotb.

Holy Jesus.

I saw Hoda Kotb. In person. First in the hall as she was going to a quick interview (I saw her and–without even processing anything–gave her a huge smile, widened my eyes, and gave an excited, “Hey!”. It sounds very casual when you think about it but my reaction to her “Hey!” of equivalence was anything but casual) and then again, of course, when she made her grand entrance into the conference room. It was crazy. We knew she was there. We were expecting her. We got out our cameras and hit record. I was located in the back of the room with a good view of the door she’d be entering in from so I positioned my camera at the door. People were jittering with excitement and, after ten minutes passed, couldn’t handle it anymore. Unfortunately, staff and interns found our jitters entertaining and enjoyed teasing us. At that moment, I felt like a true journalist. I was so eager just to see Hoda and hear what she had to say and standing there with my camera raised high in the air felt so surreal. My reaction was more fan-girl than I thought it would have ever been. Hoda knew just how eager we were. We first got a glimpse of her when she poked her head out from behind the door and you could hear screams belting out from our lungs. A couple seconds later, she jumped in and strutted down the aisle, jumping in behind some girls so they could snap a quick selfie.

Seeing Hoda for the first time. (Courtesy of The Washington Scholar program on Flickr)

It was amazing and I couldn’t have asked for a better experience. She was so wildly entertaining and y’all will be able to see that as soon as I’m able to edit my content.

I hate to have to sign this off so soon but I feel like I’ve written a little too much already. I will be writing other blog posts about today sometime in the near future but, for now, I must go.

3 thoughts on “Hoda Kotb & Brian Lamb”

[…] Hey guys! I was finally able to finish editing the 60+ minutes of footage I got of Hoda Kotb this past July. I really enjoyed listening to her talk and if you want to read more about her speech just click here. […]

[…] the National Press Club, I was able to interview Kay Hagan’s press secretary, and I stumped Brian Lamb with a question. I went a curious student and left an aspiring political journalist. And thus this […]

let’s get connected

the girl behind the blog

hi and welcome to my blog! i’m mia, the content creator, blogger, knitter and obsessive cat lady. i’m currently a college student studying español + français. i’m an aspiring adult, and an avid harry potter enthusiast. join me every-other week as i bring you my twenty-something year-old musings + various lifestyle advice and tips that i bring to you from the keyboard of my little computer in some coffee shop in a place i call my home.